Anyone who knows me would think that I'd be thrilled with the results of last week's elections. The Democrats won... big time. And it was clear that Karl Rove and hence GW didn't expect it. Had they expected it, Rumsfeld would have been canned two days before the election. They actually believed that no change was needed.
So why am I a little disappointed? Actually, it is stronger than that. I'm unhappy that we have only one choice when it comes to foreign policy. Both Democrats and Republicans are standing on a "we're as tough as they are" platform. It is a platform fueled by fear and greed as the military industrial complex continues to rape the poor. (After all, it was Eisenhower who said that every dollar spent on the military is a dollar taken from the poor.) While the dems may be a little quicker to end the debacle in Iraq, neither is really showing any imagination of better ways to live in the world than by caring an M16. Both are caught up in trying to show that they have as much testosterone as the other.
I'd like to see some party that has peace as a central component of its platform. I'd still like to see a party that worked to stop the global arms business (growing by leaps and bounds these days... did you know that our sales to Pakistan have grow incredibly in the last 2 years and that one of their largest customers in the resale of those arms is Iran?) I'd like to see a peace college formed for the training of diplomats who can avoid wars rather than just war colleges to train those to wage them. I'd like to see a party that includes worker's rights as part of the negotiations in its trade deals. I'd like to see the swords turned into plowshares and the spears to pruning hooks. When one of the current or a new party spoke those kinds of ideas, then I'd be happy, even if they lost. Right now, nobody is even raising the possibility that there can be another way.
And as the bumper sticker says... "When Jesus said 'love your enemies' he probably meant we shouldn't kill them."
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2 comments:
Thanks for speaking out for this Roy. I get a bit bummed at times because it seems as though our nation will never change its ways because no matter which candidate we elect, they will be middle of the road on everything and really stand for very little at all. They will be too busy trying to please everyone that issues such as alternative fuel and peace will not get dealt with in the ways I believe they should...I guess our job is to hope and pray for God's kingdom to come through us as much as possible so that change can happen and hopefully be contageous enough that others will join in with us.
Roy, I believe there are many of us frustrated at what has become of the American Political scene. I have just finished Jim Wallis' book God's Politics and was encouraged to hear someone voicing my concerns.
I posted his fourth option on my blog. If you haven't read the book, perhaps my small snippet will whet your appetite.
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